When I was little, large family get-togethers were basically excuses for the children to stuff our faces and hang out with cousins whom we rarely met up with. In fact, the only childhood memories I have of such occasions are that of eating and playing. And that, basically, sums up The Great Thanksgiving Escape, which gives a kid-centric view of a big family gathering — thanksgiving dinner, in this case — and reminds us how startlingly fresh and different a kid’s point of view can be from that of stodgy grownups and emotionally detached teenagers.

When the Bunny family finds a baby wolf left outside their door, Mama and Papa are so smitten that they immediately adopt him and shower him with unconditional love. Alas, not everyone feels the same — little Dot has strong misgivings about having Wolfie as a brother: “He’s going to eat us all up!”

Buckley and his mom live an ostensibly simple and idyllic life in a little wooden house by the sea. But, as we soon learn, the pair are actually bereft of a third and much-missed member of the family: Buckley’s Papa.

Hally Tosis is a dog who has a bad case of, well, halitosis — otherwise more colloquially known as ‘bad breath’. And every time Hally opens his mouth, horrible things tend to happen — like Grandma Tosis passing out on the floor from his dog breath!

When people are angry or frustrated, nasty thoughts can cross their minds, even if it’s about people they care about, in the heat of the moment. Thankfully, there’s usually no harm done since, just as quickly, when the matter blows over, they’d feel rather silly and regretful for overreacting.

It’s bedtime for Dylan, but he’s sitting in his bedroom wide-eyed, waiting for The Tickle Ghost who, he is certain, is slowly creeping up the stairs… to catch me unawares”. True enough, a large ghostly white figure appears at his bedroom door…

A picture can speak a thousand words, as the saying goes, but it’s often woefully inadequate when it comes to representing people and all the qualities — both their good and less desirable attributes — that make them who they are.